Re: How can Neal say Boulder's election was accurate

[Paul E Condon <pecondon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Nov 11, 2004 at 05:35:12AM -0700, Some Guy wrote:
> Excellent suggestion Joe! I keep telling people that our country did not
> start out with secret ballot, but few believe it.

I also believe that it did not start with a secret ballot, and I
believe I know the case history of why a secret ballot became the
norm. Look into the history of John Wilkes, not John Wilkes Booth who
was named after him and became famous in his own way. The original
John Wilkes had his privacy invaded by officers of the King of
England. At the time, the US was in the run up to the Revolution, and
the case of the ill treatment of John Wilkes informed early arguments
about freedom in this country. I would not recommend going back to a
pre-Wilkes view of privacy. It is not good, particularly to the kind
of people who populate this list.

> 
> Not only did the voter verbalize their vote, but often the judge inquired
> with the voter for what reason they'd made their choice? A test of the voter
> to find out if this was their choice, or someone else's.
> 
> I'd *vote* for this.
> 
> SG
> 
> [|>] ----
> <tongue-in-cheek>How about we go back to verbal voting in front of
> election judges with a fully public hand marked tally sheet, at least
> then you better be willing to stand by your vote -- the ultimate in
> voter verification for voters of diverse abilities -- and after all,
> our ballots aren't secret anymore anyway.</tongue-out>
> [|>]

I'm too serious about liberty, and too fearful of its loss, to find
this funny. 

-- 
Paul E Condon           
pecondon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx